When that was quite unsuccessful, she became irritated and poked Gregor a little, and only when she had shoved him from his place without any resistance did she become attentive. When she quickly realized the true state of affairs, her eyes grew large, she whistled to herself, but didn’t restrain herself for long. She pulled open the door of the bedroom and yelled in a loud voice into the darkness, ‘Come and look. It’s kicked the bucket. It’s lying there, totally snuffed!’
The Samsa married couple sat upright in their marriage bed and had to get over their fright at the cleaning woman before they managed to grasp her message. But then Mr. and Mrs. Samsa climbed very quickly out of bed, one on either side. Mr. Samsa threw the bedspread over his shoulders, Mrs. Samsa came out only in her night-shirt, and like this they stepped into Gregor’s room. Meanwhile the door of the living room (in which Grete had slept since the lodgers had arrived on the scene) had also opened. She was fully clothed, as if she had not slept at all; her white face also seem to indicate that. ‘Dead?’ said Mrs. Samsa and looked questioningly at the cleaning woman, although she could check everything on her own and even understand without a check. ‘I should say so,’ said the cleaning woman and, by way of proof, poked Gregor’s body with the broom a considerable distance more to the side. Mrs. Samsa made a movement as if she wished to restrain the broom, but didn’t do it. ‘Well,’ said Mr. Samsa, ‘now we can give thanks to God.’ He crossed himself, and the three women followed his example.
Grete, who did not take her eyes off the corpse, said, ‘Look how thin he was. He had eaten nothing for such a long time. The meals which came in here came out again exactly the same.’ In fact, Gregor’s body was completely flat and dry. That was apparent really for the first time, now that he was no longer raised on his small limbs and, moreover, now that nothing else distracted one’s gaze.
‘Grete, come into us for a moment,’ said Mrs. Samsa with a melancholy smile, and Grete went, not without looking back at the corpse, behind her parents into the bed room. The cleaning woman shut the door and opened the window wide. In spite of the early morning, the fresh air was partly tinged with warmth. It was already the end of March. The three lodgers stepped out of their room and looked around for their breakfast, astonished that they had been forgotten. ‘Where is the breakfast?’ asked the middle one of the gentlemen grumpily to the cleaning woman. However, she laid her finger to her lips and then quickly and silently indicated to the lodgers that they could come into Gregor’s room. So they came and stood around Gregor’s corpse, their hands in the pockets of their somewhat worn jackets, in the room, which was already quite bright.
Then the door of the bed room opened, and Mr. Samsa appeared in his uniform, with his wife on one arm and his daughter on the other.
